Attention has been paid to certain kinds of alkoxyiminoacetamide compounds because of their excellent fungicidal activities against microorganisms such as Pyricularia oryzae, Rhizoctonia solani, Pseudoperonospora cubensis and the like. Several compounds of them and processes for their production are known (JP-A 63-23852, JP-A 63-30463).
The present applicant has filed patent applications on the processes for producing alkoxyiminoacetamide compounds, particularly methoxyiminoacetamide compounds (JP-A 3-246268, JP-A 4-89464, JP-A 4-182461, JP-A 5-97768, Japanese Patent Application No. 3-334858, etc.).
However, there is still room for improvement in these processes in terms of the cost, safety and the like of the raw materials and reagents to be used. There is still a need for an economical process for producing them using safe raw materials and reagents.
Further, alkoxyiminoacetamde compounds exist as E- or Z-isomers due to the configuration of the imino group. Since the E-isomers have more potent fungicidal activities, there is a need for processes giving the E-isomers in high ratio and high yield.